Why not A, B, C?
Alphabetical order is fine for a song, but it is a slow way to start reading. After a, b, c, d, e and f, how many real words can a child read? Very few, and some (like bad and cab) need a sound that is easy to confuse.
Phonics courses choose the first sounds for a different reason: how many words they make. The letters s, a, t, p, i and n are some of the most common in English, and together they build dozens of short words. Within a week of starting, a child can read a real word on a page, and that early success is what keeps them going.
The words you can read with six sounds
Here are the words from Kutty Phonics that use only s, a, t, p, i and n, with their Malayalam meanings:
- antഉറുമ്പ്
- panചട്ടി
- pinമൊട്ടുസൂചി
- tin*ടിൻ പാത്രം
- tapപൈപ്പ്
- napചെറിയ ഉറക്കം
- satഇരുന്നു
- patതട്ടുക
- tanതവിട്ടുനിറം
- pitകുഴി
- tipഅറ്റം
- sipകുറച്ച് കുടിക്കുക
- sitഇരിക്കുക
- nipനുള്ളുക
* also used in Malayalam
Each of these is a *CVC word*: consonant, vowel, consonant. They are the perfect first words because every letter says its plain sound.
The order inside the six
Kutty Phonics teaches them as s, a, t, p, i, n, with a game between each new sound:
- s (സ്): a stretchy sound, easy to hear and hold. Snake shape, snake sound.
- a (short ആ): the first vowel. Now as and at can be read.
- t (ട്): makes sat and at possible. The first real three-letter word!
- p (പ്): pat, sap, tap.
- i (ഇ): the second vowel. sit, tip, pit, sip.
- n (ന്): pin, tin, nap, pan, ant.
Notice the two vowels, a and i, early on. Every English word needs a vowel, and having two lets children compare pat and pit, tap and tip: the first taste of reading carefully.
How to practise
- Sound hunt: find things at home that start with each sound. s: sun, spoon, soap, sock. p: pen, plate, pillow. Say the first sound only, clearly.
- Magnetic letters or paper cards: make sat. Change one letter: sat to pat to pit to pin. Children love watching one letter change the word.
- Robot talk: say a word in sounds, "/p/ /i/ /n/", and let your child shout the word.
- Write in rice or sand: trace each letter on a tray of rice, saying the sound as you go.
In Kutty Phonics, world 1 (the Backwaters) teaches exactly these six, with Balloon Pop, Missing Sound, Memory Match, Coconut Catch, Word Train, Fish Sort and a snake boat race to practise them.
What comes next
Once these six feel easy, the next group is m, d, g, o, c, k, which adds words like dog, cat, map and pot. See the full teaching order, or more CVC words with Malayalam meanings.
